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This work, carried out at Research Centre for Industrial Crops of CREA in Rovigo, aimed at assessing the performance of a modified combine header and seed losses during late harvest of 5 hemp varieties. The renewed interest in Italy for hemp cultivation is aimed at seed production unlike the traditional cultivation aimed at fibre. However, it must face the lack of monoecious varieties suitable for Italian environment. In the case of dioecious varieties, traditionally cultivated in Italy for fibre production, the high crop height makes it difficult the mechanical harvesting with conventional combines. Similarly, the uneven height recorded in the case of imported varieties for seed production, requires adjusting continuously the height of the combine header. So, modified combine headers capable of be moved upwards and downwards by a lift have been developed. The aim is to avoid the risk of possible clogging of threshing apparatus introducing big pieces of stalks. Moreover, in this way, the stalks can be harvested separately in order to increase the income for farmers. In view of valorise the whole plant, as multipurpose crop, the right harvest time should be a trade-off between seed yield and fibre quality. Early harvesting guaranties a good fibre quality but causes also the harvest of seed not completely ripened. On the contrary delaying the harvest reduces the seed yield due to seed loss for dehiscence. In addition to losses for dehiscence prior to harvest, the trials aimed at distinguishing the loss incurred during harvest attributable both to crop disturbance by combine header and to the setting of the combine’s threshing and separation elements. Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 197-200

Alcohol has potential deleterious effects on donor heart function. This study was conducted in rats to determine whether long-term alcohol ingestion produces impaired hemodynamic performance while maintaining a normal left ventricular ejection fraction in donor hearts before transplantation and whether donor cardiac function is affected after heart transplantation.Rats fed 30% alcohol in their drinking water for 12 weeks were compared with rats fed a normal diet. Left ventricular ejection fraction was measured by echocardiography with Simpson and single plane Dodge formulas in living sedated rats after 10 and 12 weeks of alcohol feeding. Explanted heart function was assessed before and 3 days after heterotopic heart transplantation (no immunosuppression) with a Langendorff preparation.Blood ethanol levels at 4 and 8 weeks were 0.08 +/- 0.04 and 0.08 +/- 0.09 gm/dl. Left ventricular ejection fraction was similar in the group fed an alcohol diet for 12 weeks when compared with the control group (65.4% +/- 1.6% vs. 66.5% +/- 2.9%, p = 0.33). Explanted alcohol-fed hearts before transplantation had significantly lower maximum and developed pressures and had a blunted response to 0.1 ml 10(-9) mol/L isoproterenol. After transplantation alcohol-fed hearts had significantly lower maximum and developed pressures and decreased maximum rates of pressure rise and pressure decline. Allografts (ACI to Lewis) exhibited decreased function in comparison with isografts (ACI to ACI).Alcohol feeding for 12 weeks in rats does not affect pretransplantation left ventricular ejection fraction, but it impairs explanted heart function, both before and after transplantation, resulting in a subclinical cardiomyopathy that is worsened by the presence of allograft rejection. Long-term alcohol exposure and rejection have independent, additive detrimental effects on left ventricular performance of the transplanted heart. Alcohol-exposed hearts may not be suitable donors.

This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the water-, sanitation- and hygiene (WASH)-related insecurities that people experiencing homelessness in urban areas of high-income countries (HIC) are facing, and how these insecurities are further complicated during extreme weather events. While limited recent research has looked into WASH among people experiencing homelessness in HICs, and while some work has considering the implications of climate change on WASH and health, the nexus of WASH, extreme weather events and homelessness in HICs have not been studied thus far. We conducted the first systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed literature on this nexus, which is understudied and marked by complexity, involving a range of systems and forms of impact. A total of 50 publications were included in our analysis.We found that public facilities like drinking water fountains, toilets, handwashing facilities, and showers are scarce, frequently unavailable, often pose safety and cleanliness issues, and access to non-public facilities may be cost-prohibitive for homeless populations. Consequently, people experiencing homelessness, including those sleeping rough, in encampments, or shelters, are often forced to limit drinking water consumption, forego healthy hygiene behaviours, and resort to open urination and defecation, all of which carry health risks. Extreme weather events, like heatwaves, extreme cold, heavy rain and flooding exacerbate challenges for people experiencing homelessness, further complicating their access to WASH, and reducing the ability of service providers to deliver extra relief, creating a dual WASH and health burden.Our review highlights that the Human Right to Water and Sanitation is not met for people experiencing homelessness in urban areas of high-income countries, with women emerging as one of the most vulnerable subgroups. It reveals that the impact of certain WASH issues (e.g. drinking water) on homeless populations are better understood than others (e.g. waste), and, similarly, the effects of certain extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves) on the health and WASH conditions of people experiencing homelessness are better understood than others (e.g. flooding). Data gaps and the lack of information on limited WASH access and health circumstances of people experiencing homelessness, further minimize their representation and consequently impose obstacles to improve their situation.Based on our analysis, we established a framework which operationalizes the nexus of WASH, extreme weather events and homelessness. This framework improves our understanding of the underlying complexities at the intersection of these three issues and provides a foundation for enhanced preparedness and health-oriented planning.

This paper reviews the health dimension and sociocultural, economic, and ecological determinants of health in existing global scenario studies. Not even half of the 31 scenarios reviewed gave a good description of future health developments and the different scenario studies did not handle health in a consistent way. Most of the global driving forces of health are addressed adequately in the selected scenarios, however, and it therefore would have been possible to describe the future developments in health as an outcome of these multiple driving forces. To provide examples on how future health can be incorporated in existing scenarios, we linked the sociocultural, economic, and environmental developments described in three sets of scenarios (special report on emission scenarios (SRES), global environmental outlook-3 (GEO3), and world water scenarios (WWS)) to three potential, but imaginary, health futures ("age of emerging infectious diseases", "age of medical technology", and "age of sustained health"). This paper provides useful insights into how to deal with future health in scenarios and shows that a comprehensive picture of future health evolves when all important driving forces and pressures are taken into account.

After natural disasters, displaced people (DP) require important numbers of housing units, which have to be erected quickly due to emergency pressures. These tight timeframes can cause the multiplication of the environmental construction impacts. These negative impacts worsen the already high energy consumption and pollution caused by the building sector. Indeed, post-disaster housing, which is often carried out without pre-planning, usually causes high negative environmental impacts, besides other economic and social impacts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a suitable strategy to deal with this problem which also takes into account the instability of its causes, like changing ratio between rural and urban population. To this end, this study aims to present a model that assists decisionmakers to choose the most suitable building technology for postdisaster housing units. This model focuses on the alternatives sustainability and fulfillment of the stakeholders’ satisfactions. Four building technologies have been analyzed to determine the most sustainability technology and to validate the presented model. In 2003, Bam earthquake DP had their temporary housing units (THUs) built using these four technologies: autoclaved aerated concrete blocks (AAC), concrete masonry unit (CMU), pressed reeds panel (PR), and 3D sandwich panel (3D). The results of this analysis confirm that PR and CMU obtain the highest sustainability indexes. However, the second life scenario of THUs could have considerable impacts on the results. Peer Reviewed

To investigate the influence of chemical and enzymatic degradation on the stability of zirconia resin bond strength using micro-shear bond strength test.Zirconia discs were airborne particle abraded (SB) or selective infiltration etched (SIE) while no surface treatment served as control. Resin composite (Filtek Z250) microdiscs were bonded to zirconia using self-adhesive universal resin cement (RelyX UniCem). Micro-shear bond strength (microSBS) test was conducted after immersion in the following degrading media: 24 hours and 2 weeks of water storage, and 2 weeks in NaOH, alcohol, or esterase enzyme (n=10).There was a significant influence of the surface finish (P < 0.001, F=154.5), biodegradation medium (P < 0.001, F=52.9), and their interaction (P < 0.001, F=6.0) on zirconia resin bond strength. In general SIE group revealed the highest microSBS values (8.1 - 34.5 MPa) after degradation in different media, followed by SB group (8.7 - 28.5 MPa), while the control group showed significantly lower bond strength (0.4 - 9 MPa).

Observed changes at the global scale. An increase of the annual mean global temperature and changes of other climate parameters have been observed in the last century. The global temperature and the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases are changing at a very fast pace compared to those found in palaeoclimate records. Changes in the Mediterranean. Variations of some climate change indicators can be much larger at the local than at the global scale, and the Mediterranean has been indicated among the regions most sensitive to climate change, also due to the increasing anthropogenic pressure. Model projections for the Mediterranean foresee further warming, droughts, and long-lasting modifications.Regional climate changes impact health and ecosystems, creating new risks, determined not only by weather events, but also by changing exposures and vulnerabilities. These issues, and in particular those regarding occupational safety, have not been sufficiently addressed to date.